Cavalry Days
by inveritas
Summary: Colonel Sherman Potter remembers his cavalry days.
1. Remebering his Cavalry Days

**Cavalry Days**

_"Why in the cavalry a man's steed was his best friend, a real __companion_." - Colonel Sherman T. Potter, "Old Soldiers", MASH, 1980. 

She was a 15hh chestnut thoroughbred, sturdy as a brick house and there was no one Sherman Potter could count on more. In the cavalry you need to have a strong bond with your horse, they were the only way you could get away from the bullets. When there were bullets flying around you in every direction, you want to know that you have your best friend right there, to protect you, to aid you if you need to retreat. A good horse meant survival.

Sherman was lucky, he had one of the best horses a man could have. There was a guy in the same division as him, who had been a victim of having been given a bad horse. The horse was a temperamental Arab stallion, the horse was about six at the time, still quite green too. Six is a young age for a stallion like that. He stood about 16hh, and his rider, Mark Paterson was his name, was not the tallest guy in the world, which made it difficult for him.

One day him and the rest of the division were riding into battle, when a bullet grazed the side of his horses back leg, the horse reared up and thrust his head around, the bullet didn't penetrate the horse's leg, but the noise and the pain had spooked him. After a while Paterson did manage to rein him in, but he also managed to get shot in the leg himself. The enemy shooter had fired another round while Paterson was trying to control his horse, and the bullet got him in the leg. He managed to survive, but he did loose his leg, when he was hit he fell off the horse and fell into the dirt, this is the reason he lost his leg, it had been infected badly by the dirt.

That, Sherman thought as he looked up at the photo of that fine mare, Lady of Gold was her name, on the wall behind his desk, was why you needed to have a good horse. He was just glad he had not been the victim of bad horse trading, he was very lucky to have had the horse he had. She was probably the reason he made it through his cavalry days.

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	2. Riding into battle

_This is a continuation of my story_ **Cavalry Days**_. I have tried to be as accurate as possible with information regarding the First World War and the Cavalry so I hope I haven't made any huge errors there. Anyway I hope you enjoy it I'm going to try to do a few more chapters with more experiences from Colonel Potter. Enjoy._

**Cavalry Days - Riding into battle.**

The young cavalry officer placed his foot in the stirrup, preparing to mount. He was only sixteen. He had enlisted a year ago he had lied about his age to get in. The young officer completed the mount, within seconds he was sitting tall and proud on his horse. He had been raised around horses back in Missouri on his family's property, he had enlisted in the cavalry because of his love for horses and he wanted to do his part for his country.

Quick, sturdy, intelligent and full of stamina. That was his horse. She was a seven year old palomino mare who he called Goldie, although her real name was Lady of Gold. She was called this because of her brilliant gold coat typical of her breed. He relied on Goldie every second, especially when the division rode into battle. The horses of the Cavalry often worked all day and all night without complaining. They were the true heroes.

Grabbing the reins, Sherman gave Goldie a nudge in the side, signifying go. Goldie responded almost immediately. She began at a walk until Sherman nudged her again asking her to move into a trot. "Come on girl." Sherman said, nudging her into a canter, Sherman didn't like to use the whip unless he needed to, usually he could avoid it as Goldie responded quickly to his aids. It was however regulation that each officer carry a whip, so Sherman had the whip in his hand. Some of the others needed whips constantly, Sherman felt this was the 'lazy' way of asking a horse to move he felt that nudging the horse was firstly kinder and also more of a skill and it meant you knew your horse. You didn't need to kick the horse, as some novices did, just give a nudge and the horse would respond.

As Goldie began her canter up to the battle ground Sherman began to feel nervous. Even though he had ridden into battle like this before, it didn't change how he felt each time.

"Hey, Sherm, ya ready?" Asked Sherman's friend, Bill.

Sherman turned to see his friend catch up with him and answered, "Sure am."

Once Bill had caught up, the two rode up to the site together. They were both apprehensive even though they tried not to show it. It was a well known fact that many horses were gunned down in battles such as the one they were riding into and often their riders would get caught up in the gunfire. Sometimes the horses would be taken to hospitals and treated, as they were one of the most valuable and irreplaceable things the men had and they cared for them, they were their best friends. If a horse was lucky enough to be taken to a hospital they were treated and when they recovered they were allowed to go back into duty, much like a wounded soldier. However sometimes the horses were too far gone when they were hit or they died upon impact of the bullet. This was a great sadness to the cavalry men.

Sherman pulled Goldie's reins, signifying for her to halt. He then lent down and gave his horse a pat on the neck and said, "Good luck girl. Let's go." And gave her a nudge to move on. The battle was about to begin.

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	3. Après la bataille

_More experiences from Sherman. I hope you enjoy it. The first part of the title "Après la bataille" means "After the battle" in French. I just thought it sounded cool. haha. I just want to thank everyone for reviewing this story, I didn't expect any of it to be truthful because the first chapter I did (when this was only one chapter long) I got hardly any feedback, not that little feedback was a huge concern of mine, nevertheless I'm glad people like it and have picked up on it, thankyou so much! Anyway on with the story. _

_petiteshmooette-4077._

**Après la bataille: Silence. Sun. Sleep. Night. Noise. **

It was over. The battle was done, but not quite won. Sherman looked around he saw some fallen comrades amongst the mass devastation. His friend Bill who he had ridden into this battle with was alright luckily, this was a massive relief to Sherman. He wouldn't have been able to handle it if Bill hadn't survived.

Sherman looked towards the sky, it looked peaceful - the sun was setting. It symbolised the end to the battle, the end to the pain and suffering of the fallen, yet it was unaware of the devastation which lay below. The sun shone in a radiant orange glow over the field where not so long ago the battle had been fought. While Sherman was musing he was interrupted by his commander's voice calling, "Come on everyone, let's go! Moving out!" This brought Sherman back to reality so he gave Goldie a nudge, she complied.

Within seconds they were off, back to camp where they could get some sleep. Sherman began to wonder what sleep was. These days it was a rare commodity so those who were lucky enough to have some were envied by those who didn't. The men and their horses continued relentlessly along the trail back to camp. They were almost at the end of the trail. The trail was only there because of the countless number of carts, horses and men who had trudged along it, it was not created by men for a purpose to serve it was chance. Chance because the men knew now where they were going, unlike previously when man and horse had becoming dislodged from the group and spent hours trying to find their way back.

Arriving at the camp each cavalry officer dismounted and led their horses into their make shift shelters. The men gave their horses a rub down and gave them feed and placed blankets over them, it was going to be a cold night.

Night. Night in this area, in this war was often either too soft, still and quiet or it would be unbearable. Noise of distant battles would plague the minds of the men, battles either happening at that moment and could be physically heard or the noise of battles which had been fought and still ran threw the men's minds. Sherman wondered which was worse. He had always thought he had a good head screwed on his shoulders but he sometimes wondered. Was the imaginative worse than the real? He couldn't answer that at the moment. He was too tired. Sleep was what he needed and that was a question he could answer.

During the night, after everyone had drifted off to sleep, they were awoken by noise. Loud noise. Loud real noise. The silence and peacefulness was shattered at that moment.

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	4. Shattered Silence A Sleepless Night

_Here we are everyone, the next installment. I hope events don't seem to be moving too slowly in this story but I promise I won't dwell on one topic all the time!  
Enjoy!  
petiteshmooette-4077_

**Shattered Silence, A Sleepless Night.**

Loud was how you could describe it. Unbelievably loud. The sound of the incoming battle was unlike any other noise. It made your heart skip a beat, it sent butterflies squirming around in your stomach. It was simply, frightening.

Before now not many of the men had managed to get any sleep. Most were either over tired or were too preoccupied. The horses were another factor, they could hear the distant battle coming as their hearing was much better than the men's. Most of the horses were used to the noises and most coped well, there was however a few that were, and probably would always be, spooked by such noises. It was just in those horse's natures.

When the announcement was made by their commanding officer the men were quick to respond, a few complaints but nothing major. Most of the men were, ironically, glad to be woken, as it meant they had something to distract their minds from what _might _happen. At least now they knew what to expect and they had something real to be afraid of. It was an odd sort of relief and few could imagine what it felt like.

"Moving out!" Called the C.O

Sherman and his buddies saddled up their horses and mounted. Ready to go. Well physically anyway. Most of the men, including Sherman understood what they had to do physically but mentally was an entirely different story. Preparing themselves mentally was one of the hardest things Sherman had ever had to do. His mind could not reach a logical conclusion as to why it was good to ride into a battle in the middle of the night and begin fighting. The entire idea of starting a battle in the dead of night seem logical to a scared mind and was completely senseless and illogical. It was a difficult mental challenge, to carry out the idea of riding into a battle in the night. It was definitely something that took work.

The division began their journey to the fighting. The horses, though still tired, like their riders, were trudging along without complaining too much. They were too tried to complain.

While Sherman was trying to keep himself awake he thought, "Why can't they ever have a war during the day?"

It was defiantly going to be a sleepless night.

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	5. Comrades through thick and thin

_Here's the next installment. I don't know if it's too short or not but the idea of this story is to have snippets I guess from Colonel Potter's days in the Cavalry so don't expect the chapters to be long. Anyway I hope you enjoy it._

_Miss-Margaret-4077_

**Comrades through thick and thin.**

The battle had gone on well into the early hours of the morning. The division that Sherman belonged to were getting ready to set up a camp. He still didn't understand how the enemy never got tired. Or tired of fighting. However grateful they all were that the fighting had ended, for now at least. The aftermath was just beginning. Many of the men, from both sides, had been injured, some terminally.

One of Sherman's best friends, a Corporal by the name of Stein, had been hit during the battle. Sherman spotted him on the grass and quickly dismounted and raced over to him. The bullet had hit him in the side.

"Medic!" Called Sherman, "Medic!" he called again. While he was waiting for the medic to get to him, there were heaps of others who had been wounded also so the medics were extremely busy, he tore some of his shirt and pushed on Stein's wound to stop the bleeding, he knew it wouldn't do a great deal but at least he was trying. He was not going to let Stein die. "Medic!" Sherman called again. "Don't worry you'll be ok, just hold on." He told Stein.

"Don't worry Sherm, I have no intention of leaving this earth yet. You owe me twenty bucks remember!" Stein answered.

Sherman admired his friend for having the courage to make a joke. "You just hold on and you'll get your twenty bucks!" he said.

The medic finally came over to Sherman and Stein. "Where was he hit?" he asked.

"In the left side." Sherman answered. "The bullet's still in there and I've been trying to stop the blood with this." he said, showing the medic his piece from his shirt.

"Ok. We'll get some sulpha on it and bandage it up." The medic replied grabbing the necessary things.

Within seconds Stein had been bandaged and the medic moved on to the next guy.

"See I told ya you'd be ok." Sherman said, helping Stein onto the cart which would take the wounded to the nearby hospital so they could be stitched up.

Sherman was worried for his friend, but he hoped the bullet hadn't penetrated too much of his body, he hoped it wasn't a very deep wound. He walked around assisting the medics, as they needed all the help they could get. Sherman had always wanted to be a surgeon, right from when he was a little boy. He wanted to help people. By helping out the medics he felt he was doing just that.

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	6. In the Line of Fire and Covered in Mud

**In the Line of Fire and Covered in Mud. **

Sherman dived into the trench hoping to avoid a what would be unpleasant encounter with a bullet that was coming his way. Hitting the mud and placing his arms over his head he waited until he heard the bullet hit something else, luckily for him it made impact a few metres away. He sighed with relief.

The mud here was terrible. Most of the time it was either so slippery that you couldn't even stand up without help or it was like quicksand, thick and gluggy. Unfortunately a sore backside was not the only thing mud caused. It caused many infections amongst the men and occasionally some even died from drowning in it.

Sherman got up when it was safe. Then he heard another shot go off and repeated the ducking process.

Once he knew it to be safe to lift his head he did so and looked around to see if there were any wounded. There were a few who had been hit in the legs and some shoulders. Sherman scrambled over to one of the men, a sergeant named Jimmy. Sherman called for a medic. One did not come quickly so he scrambled around to find a medical bag and figured he could try and stabilise the sergeant.

He reached into the mud soaked bag and pulled out some bandages and some sulpha. He shook the sulpha on Jimmy's wound and quickly bandaged him up. "You'll be ok son." Sherman said.

Just as he did another shot was fired and this time Sherman's ducking skills failed him. He was hit in his leg. "Medic!" He yelled. The pain was terrible.

A medic heard him and quickly put sulpha on it and got him bandaged up, much like he had just done to Jimmy's wound.

"Thanks." Sherman told the medic.

"You're welcome." The medic answered.

Before anyone could say another word an explosion went off, Sherman dived back into the mud.

"This better be over soon." He said. "I don't know how much more of this mud diving I can take."


	7. Coming Home

_This is the last in the _Cavalry Days _installements. I hope you liked them. Enjoy. :)_

_Miss-Margaret-4077_

* * *

**Coming Home**

The horror had ended, the death, the destruction, the waste all over. Sherman had seen his fair share of it all of which he wished he had never seen. No one should be subjected to that. But at long last it was over, they would be going to Paris tomorrow to celebrate. It was a relief to everyone.

Once the cease fire had been declared Sherman's entire unit cheered with joy and also sighed with relief because it was finally over.

The following night they made there way into Paris for the celebration that would last well into the next morning no doubt. Later that afternoon they would make their way back to the States a moment long over due.

Sherman and his buddies ordered another round of drinks - it was their third already - and were making toasts.

"To us!" Sherman cheered.

"To us!" his buddies cheered back and took a swig of their drinks.

"To you Sherm, for being the best buddy I guy could have." Sherman's buddy Stein cheered.

"To your horse!" Sherman said, taking a another swig. Then he added, "To my horse!"

Laughter filled the room. Then Sherman said seriously, "Listen guys you've been the best friends I guy could have. I don't know what I would've done without you. Thankyou."

"To friendship." Stein said.

"To friendship." Sherman and the others said back.


End file.
